Jalen Duren: The Future Anchor
Diving into what makes the Piston's Jalen Duren so intriguing
Jalen Duren is an athletic specimen. The 6’11, 250-pound big man made an immediate impact despite being the youngest player in the NBA. A frontcourt player who can defend the rim is not only a plus but almost necessary to compete. Luckily for the Pistons, they have that player in Duren.
Duren isn’t the perfect defender, he has positioning issues and can be flat-footed in drop, but even then, he’s already a good rim-protector. Owning a 7’5 wingspan and massive vertical jump marvelously helps him. He’s able to cover ground in ways others aren’t. In his rookie campaign, Duren owned a 3.1 Block % (83rd percentile) and wasn’t overly block-heavy. He was good at staying down on fakes and didn’t hunt for blocks. For being the youngest player in the NBA, Duren showed all-defensive potential in his first year and should be a presence in his second year.
Defensive slanted players need to add value on the offensive end to stay on the court in high-leverage situations. Offensive rebounding is Duren’s primary way of doing that right now. His 14.9 OR% was in the 97th percentile.
Creating second-chance opportunities for your team is a massive plus. Duren does that, along with being excellent at converting them, whether by thunderous putbacks or paint points in other ways. Duren is a bruiser, and he's built like a bodybuilder with springs in his legs. This is a cheat code to being an elite offensive rebounder.
Piggybacking off the athletics tools, his secondary path to adding value to the offensive end this year was being a lob threat.
Adding vertical spacing helps in a myriad of ways, especially for your teammates. Being able to space vertically puts pressure on every defender, but when you put pressure specifically on a drop big that pairs nicely with your pick and roll, partner. Duren is paired with Cade Cunningham & Jaden Ivey. Both players account for many pick and rolls per game. Putting pressure on the defending big creates driving lanes and opportunities to score inside/outside the arc. If the big decides to commit to Ivey/Cunningham or another P&R ball handler, then Duren has a free lane to destroy the rim.
Look, Duren isn’t the most promising passing big I’ve seen, but I think there is something there.
See, he has some passing chops. In all seriousness, I don’t think he will be a high-volume passer that can rack up 5+ assists a night, but I do believe he can initiate sets at the top of the key. I can see him as a DHO big sometimes and running delay actions when needed. I can also see him being a pretty solid short-roll passer. Connecting advantages for Cade/Ivey will add value to Duren’s offense.
Duren is a defensive slanted big with all defensive potential, and I would be shocked if he doesn’t reach that quickly. He’s a drop big who struggled there but was the youngest player in the NBA. He primarily guards centers (52.2%), which means he’s typically defending rolling and cutting bigs, but he has shown more than enough that he can be in a roamer role.
On offense, his role seems clear, a play-finisher. He’s a premier lob threat and is excellent around the rim. Duren got a healthy dose of post-touches which puts him ahead of schedule. As expected from a 19-year-old, he was a raw post player, but he showed flashes that he could be a real post threat. Duren has a multitude of avenues to be a plus offensive player, play finishing, screening, passing, posting, etc. With a year under his belt in the NBA, the sky is the limit for the baby anchor.